HT017 First Year Physics: Prelims CP1 Classical Mechanics: Prof Neville Harnew Problem Set III : Projectiles, rocket motion and motion in E & B fields Questions 1-10 are standard examples Questions 11-1 are additional questions that may also be attempted or left for revision Problems with asterisks are either more advanced than average or require significant algebra All topics are covered in lectures 1-5 of Hilary term More on projectiles 1 Projectile with no air resistance: A small sphere is released from rest and, after falling a vertical distance h freely under gravity, bounces on a smooth inclined plane (which is at an angle θ < 90 to the horizontal) Given that the sphere loses no energy on impact, in what direction (relative to the upward normal to the plane) will it move immediately after impact? Show that the distance down the plane between this impact and the next is 8h sin θ Hint: you may wish to choose axes parallel to and perpendicular to the plane h µ Projectiles from a rotating wheel: Drops of water are thrown tangentially off the rim of a wheel of radius a, rotating in a vertical plane about its axis, which is fixed and horizontal, with angular velocity ω > g/a (as in the diagram) Neglecting air resistance, determine the point on the wheel rim from which drops will rise to the maximum height above the wheel axis (consider the vertical contributions to PE and KE as a function of angle θ) Hence show that if a horizontal ceiling, at height h > a above the axis of the wheel, is not to be spattered with water, ω must satisfy (aω) < gh + g h a h a µ! 1
Motion of Rockets 3 Two masses m and δm (δm m) are joined together, and moving with velocity v in some inertial frame At some instant the mass δm flies apart from m (eg, because of the release of a spring) along the direction of motion with a relative velocity w with respect to the mass m, such that the velocity of m becomes v + δv Show that, if the small mass is projected in the backwards direction, mδv = wδm Explain whether the same expression applies for the case in which the small mass is projected in the forwards direction We now turn to the case of a rocket which burns fuel, so that the mass of the rocket remaining at time t is m(t) Show that the acceleration of the rocket is given by the equation m dv dt + w dm dt = 0, paying careful attention to signs Finally, modify the rocket equation to take account of motion against a constant gravitational field (acceleration due to gravity = g) 4 A rocket of initial mass M, of which half is fuel, is launched vertically upwards at t = 0 It burns the fuel at a mass rate of α (a positive quantity) and ejects it backwards from the rocket at a velocity V with respect to the rocket (a) Show that the equation governing the (vertical) speed v of the rocket is dv dt = g + αv M αt where g is the acceleration due to gravity, assumed constant (b) Show that the rocket cannot leave the launch-pad on ignition unless αv > Mg (c) Given αv > Mg, show that fuel burn-out occurs at t = M/α (d) Show that the upward velocity at burn-out is v = V ln gm/(α) (e) Find the height of the rocket at burn-out and the maximum height reached You need ln x dx = x ln x x Ans for (e) max height is (1 ln )(MV/α) + (V ln ) /(g) 5* Two stage rocket: A rocket of total initial mass (casing + fuel + payload) is Nm, where m is the payload mass, and it ejects mass at a constant rate with velocity u relative to the rocket The initial ratio of (casing mass) to (casing mass + fuel mass) is r Ignore gravity and air-resistance and assume that the rocket starts from rest (i) One stage rocket Show that the payload achieves a final velocity of: v 1 = u ln N rn + (1 r) (ii) Two stage rocket The total initial mass of both stages (fuel+casing+payload) is now N m and the total initial mass of the second stage (fuel+casing+payload) is nm As for the first stage, the second stage ejects mass at a constant rate with velocity u relative to the rocket Likewise, the initial ratio of (casing mass) to (casing mass + fuel mass) of the second stage is also r Assuming that the first stage is dropped when its fuel is exhausted show that the final velocity of the payload is: v = u ln N rn + n(1 r) + u ln n rn + (1 r) (iii) If N and r are constant, show that v is a maximum for n = N and then: v max n = u ln rn + (1 r) (iv) Realistic maximum values of u from chemical combustion are of the order of 9 kms 1 If r = 01 could Earth escape speed be reached with either a one or two stage rocket?
Work and energy 6 Calculation of work along a path: A particle moves subject to a force field F = α(xy, x, 0), where α is a constant The particle moves from the origin O to the point P with coordinates (1, 1, 0) What is the work done by F on the particle for each of the following paths from O to P: (a) a straight line from O to (1, 0, 0) followed by a straight line to P; (b) a straight line from O to (0, 1, 0) followed by a straight line to P; (c) a straight line direct from O to P Repeat for the force field G = α(x, xy, 0) Comment on whether the force fields F and G are either conservative or non-conservative 7* Pendulum Oscillations with large amplitude: Consider the period of a simple pendulum with length l and bob of mass m moving under gravity, but not confined to small angle oscillations It was shown in Problem Set I that, on dimensional grounds, the period of oscillations is given by T = kf(θ 0 ) l/g, k a dimensionless constant and f an arbitrary function where θ 0 is the angular amplitude, a) Re-work this problem by using energy conservation or otherwise to show that for small angle oscillations kf(θ 0 ) = π Show that for large oscillations k = and b) Use the substitutions: sin θ given by: f(θ 0 ) = = sin θ0 θ0 0 dθ cos θ cos θ0 ( ) sin ϕ and α = sin θ0 π/ T = 4 l/g 0 dϕ 1 α sin ϕ to show that the period of oscillation is c) Expand the integrand in the above expression to estimate the period of oscillation to second order in θ 0 Estimate the percentage error if using the small angle approximation for θ 0 = π/3 Motion of particles in E & B fields 8 A charged particle in magnetic field: The motion of a particle of mass m and charge q moving in a magnetic field B = (0, 0, B) is governed by Newton s Second Law in the form m r = qṙ B, ( ) where r(t) = (x(t), y(t), z(t)) is the position of the particle at time t At t = 0 the particle is at the origin and has velocity (0, v 0, w 0 ) Write down the three components of equation ( ), and integrate them with respect to time, paying attention to the initial conditions Show that ÿ + ω y = 0 where ω = qb/m, and hence that y = (v 0 /ω) sin ωt Find also x and z, and describe and sketch the path of the particle Give a simple physical description of the balance of forces acting on the particle 3
9 Motion in both E & B fields: An electron moves in a force field due to a uniform electric field E and a uniform magnetic field B which is perpendicular to E Let E = (0, E y, 0) and B = (0, 0, B z ) Find the resulting path r(t) = (x(t), y(t), z(t)) of the electron from the initial conditions r(0) = (0, 0, 0), ṙ(0) = (v 0, 0, 0) Proceed as follows: the vector force on an electron, of charge e, in an electric field E and a magnetic field B is ( e)(e + ṙ B); this equals m r Write out the three components of the resulting equation Show first that z(t) = 0 for all t Next integrate with respect to time, and use the initial conditions, to obtain the following coupled differential equations for x(t) and y(t): Eliminate ẋ to get mẋ = eyb z + mv 0, mẏ = ee y t + exb z ( ) ÿ + ω y = A, where ω and A are constants that you should determine Solve this differential equation to obtain y = a(1 cos ωt), where a = Aω ; substitute in the second of ( ) to obtain x = a sin ωt + bt, where b = E y /B z This path is a cycloid: sketch it in the xy-plane, indicating the directions of E and B on your sketch Non-inertial reference frames 10 A passenger holding a parcel of mass m is standing in a lift which is being accelerated upward by a constant force F The total mass of lift plus passenger is M (Assume M >> m) (a) What is the acceleration of the lift? (b) What weight does the parcel appear to have for the passenger? (c) If the passenger drops the parcel from height h, how long does it take to reach the floor? Try this both in the lift frame (non-inertial) and an inertial frame (eg wrt lift shaft) (d) If the lift changes to uniform velocity, what must the value of F become? Comment on your result 4
Additional questions 11 Curvlinear motion: A particle P is moving along an arbitrary path C with velocity v(t) and position vector r(t) with respect to an origin O (a) Show that if the particle velocity satisfies the relation ṙ = c r where c is a constant vector then P moves in uniform circular motion (b) Let ˆθ and ˆn be respectively the instantaneous tangential and normal unit vectors at a point along the path, and s is the (scalar) length along the path Show that the derivative of one unit vector with respect to time or space (s) is proportional the other Hence show that d ˆθ ds = 1 ˆn where ρ is the radius ρ of curvature at the point (c) Use the relation v = v ˆθ to show that the acceleration of the particle is given by a = v ˆθ + v ρ ˆn 1* Projectile with resistance: For a projectile with a linear air resistance force F s = mkv, show that the maximum horizontal range is given by the equation ( v 0 + g ) x + g k u0 k ln 1 kx = 0, u 0 where u 0 = V cos θ, v 0 = V sin θ are the horizontal and vertical components of the initial velocity The above equation cannot be solved in closed form, either it is solved numerically or it may be approximated, assuming that the correction with k 0 is small For the latter method show that x max v 0u 0 g 8v 0 u 0 3g k 5